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Encryption appliances reviewed

This hands-on evaluation of three of the top data encryption products reveals differences, both subtle and significant. WITH DATA LOSS IN THE NEWS SO MUCH LATELY, encryption products are suddenly getting a lot of attention. Storage magazine invited five of the major players--Decru Inc. (now owned by Network Appliance Inc.), Ingrian Networks Inc., Kasten Chase Applied Research Ltd., NeoScale Systems Inc. and Vormetric Inc.--to participate in a review of encryption products. While Decru and Ingrian declined to participate, we were able to review the other three encryption products. Kasten Chase uses an encryption offload board and agents on each server, and encrypts at the file or folder level. Vormetric uses agents on each server to encrypt selected files or folders on internal or external storage. The NeoScale appliance sits between the server and the SAN, and encrypts all data moving to and from storage. Kasten Chase's Assurency SecureData Appliance 2.0 and Vormetric's CoreGuard both use an appliance for key storage, policy ...

Features
in this issue

Storage resource management (SRM) software is becoming more than a tool to manage storage devices or report on file system or database utilization. SRM vendors are reshaping their products to become the eyes and ears of the enterprise to obtain critical, real-time information.

As data wends it ways from hosts, through the fabric and to the array, it encounters many potential bottlenecks. But that also means there are a number of ways to improve storage subsystem performance. The key to the tuning process is a thorough understanding of your application requirements.

Lost tapes have been headline news lately, making encryption products hotter than ever. We review encryption products from Kasten Chase, NeoScale Systems and Vormetric to help you choose the best product for your shop.

Columns
in this issue

Disk-based backup can help companies struggling with the inefficiencies of tape, but you may experience sticker shock at the cost of moving to disk. Data-reduction technologies can trim backup data down to size, and make the price of disk a little easier to swallow.